Getting By
by A Northern Irish man
Summary: You had those at the top end of the leaderboard, the one's the Director favoured, but there so many more. Those who were just along for the ride. In the years after Project Freelancer Nevada and Delaware work the private sector.
1. Chapter 1

**Long time fan of the show, thought I'd try my hand at some Red vs Blue fanfiction. Been a while since I've done one and I may be a bit rusty, so feedback would be much appreciated. Working title is "Getting By" but I might change it if I think of a better one. Please Enjoy**

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**Planet: Atticus**

**Desert Airstrip**

**11:50 am**

I was stood in this empty hanger staring out into the sandstorm erupting outside. The sand whipped back and forth in the air; the strong winds rattled the metal sheets that lined the roof and whistled through the gaps in the tattered old hanger. I glared out, in a world of my own, when suddenly there was a loud beep from the radar on my computer that echoed off the walls. I checked the radar, 10 clicks out. There was another beep, a call this time.

"Come in ground force." A shaky voice called out.

"I'm here Eagle-1." I answered

"Yeah, this storm is playing havoc on our visuals, I can't see the LZ. I can't see a damn thing."

"That's the idea."

"What do you mean that's the idea!?" The voice shouted. "You trying to get us killed?"

"Look, no one in their right mind would try land in this, so no one is going to bother monitoring this area, I've got this all sorted out Eagle-1." I fiddle with the computer for a moment, "here I am sending out detailed coordinates for the airfield, it'll help you line up. I will light up the strip in a minute for landing, just don't be late."

"Roger. Is the LZ clear?"

"What do I look like, an amateur?" I scoffed. "Airstrip is secured and transport has been arranged."

"Right, we'll be landing in ETA 5 minutes. Over and out." The transmission ended and went to static.

I went about turning the guiding lights on, the yellow beacons lit up one by one, light dominos. I stepped out of the hangar to watch them come in to land. The sand blew up against my helmet visor but nothing worse than that. A few minutes later I could hear the roaring of engines and bright lights pushing their way through the sandy clouds, like a car driving through a fog. The pelican descended from the storm onto the runway with a relatively effortless landing, aside from an initial bump when it first touched down. It came to a halt and after a few more moments the cargo bay doors dropped down. I strolled towards it to greet them. As I approached a man came wondering out in green poncho with its hood up and goggles, though he still kept his hand towards his face to shield his eyes for some reason. As he emerged he turned in my direction and jumped at first sight of me, I presume he wasn't expecting there to be a shadowy figure in black and red armour standing by him.

"Hi." I said with a small wave. "You Kevin?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry." He responded with a laugh of relief and a hint of embarrassment. "You must be…"

"Nevada." I finished his point. "Follow me; I'll take you to your transport." As we walked off I began to crack and drop glow sticks, "Have your men follow this trail when they're transferring the cargo." Then we reached the end of strip and reached 4 lorry trucks lined up. "Coordinates are programmed into the GPS. Maps and forged documents are in the glove boxes."

"You really are thorough aren't you?"

"We pride ourselves on our service delivery." I answer as we head towards the hangar. I come to the computer and open up the wire transfer program. "Now if you could just enter the code your boss gave you for the payment transfer."

"Sure." Kevin replied as he typed in the data and waited for transfer to finish. "Now your accent, what colony are you from?"

"I'm not from the colonies." I said with a chuckle, "I'm an earth boy."

"Really? Where on earth? Southern hemisphere I bet."

"New Zealand." Then there was ping, indicating the wire transfer had been successful. "Great, now let's get you finished up."

We headed back to the pelican where the men were shifting their crates along the illuminated path. I headed into the cockpit to give the pilot his false documents, saying he had been transporting medical supplies. Another half an hour went by and everything was loaded up and I walked Kevin to his truck to see him off.

"I hope you were satisfied and consider hiring us for illegal activities in the future. And don't forget to recommend us to your friends and associates." I spoke as we approached the truck. Kevin reached for the door but stopped and turned to me.

"Why can't there be more guys like you in this business. I'll make sure Mr Bao hires you guys again." He smiles, got in and then drove into the sandy distance. I waited for the pelican to take off before shutting the runway lights off and packing my computer

Job Done.

I walked around the back of the hangar and pulled the desert tarp off my Jeep; I packed up, got in and took off my helmet. I popped on some music began to drive away. After a while I got clear of the storm and was met by the moon-like landscape. Just as I continued my journey I got a call and put it on speakerphone, it was Delaware.

"Hey Nevada. How was the airstrip operation?"

"Hi Delaware, yeah it went fine, on my way out now. How did your job go?"

"I'll tell you later."

"That good huh? I'll see you in a few days at headquarters."

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**There you go, what did you think? Please review if you can. Will try get another chapter up soon. Thank you**


	2. The Drop

**Second chapter, hope you liked the first, I will keep updating when I can. Feedback is always appreciated**

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**Many Years Ago**

I'm falling

Like a bullet shot straight down, I cut through the dark clouds towards the city below, feet first into hell. The charcoal coloured clouds cover the sky, every few moments there's a white hot flash or a bright pitchfork that stabs down into the ground, always followed by the deep bellowing roars of thunder, like as if the Gods are showing their fury. My drop pod shakes during the fall but I'm tightly packed in, like a tinned sardine, I don't move but it feels like my rib cage is rattling. Suddenly the red light starts flashing and my Captain comes on the radio.

"Alright men, listen up." The Captain shouts. "This storm has messed with some of our trajectory so a few of you might end off course. Everyone set your beacons so we can regroup at the Dalton memorial. Over and out."

The orange flames begin to rise from the bottom of my eye line as I brace for impact. The red light flashes faster and faster. Then it comes to the final 5 seconds, a space of 5 second of uncertainty, not knowing when you were going hit the ground, it could happen in one second, could happen 4. My pod finally smacks the ground, burying itself slightly into the concrete round I landed on. The pod goes dark and the door fires off. I climb out and onto top of a wrecked taxi; it quickly became apparent that I was one of the unlucky ones that were off shot. I landed smack dab in the middle of a T-junction, with the roads stretching off to each side as well as directly in front of me. The gargantuan buildings loomed over me as I tried to decide which route to take, 3 options so I couldn't just go for a simple coin toss. Just as I was left with only my thoughts and the sounds of canons firing in the distance there was the abrupt sound of static that came over the radio.

"Rusty, you there? Respond." Said a voice on the other end, it was the Captain.

"I'm here Captain Edwards." I responded.

"Good, well it seems you drew the short straw and were the one who got knocked off target."

"One? I thought you said a few of us would get separated."

"Yeah, thought whoever it was would feel better about being up shit creek if they thought more people were paddling along with them. You're not too far off, about 6 blocks from the memorial. Your radar should plot out a route for you; we'll hold this position until you get here but try not taking too long, this isn't a tea party. Over and out."

I set my coordinates and followed the directions. This place was dead, burnt out cars and rubble filled the streets, buildings had craters in their sides with smoke billowing out of them. After a few more minutes of trekking through the city I began to hear shouting, and it wasn't English. I followed the noises and took cover at the corner of a building; I peered round and saw at the bottom of the street a Wraith making its way in my direction. I moved cover to an abandoned mail van and waited for the Wraith to approach. As it closed in the vibrations from its engines became more prevalent with the smaller pieces of rubble began to shake and bounce. I waited, gripping a grenade in anticipation. When it got close enough I sprinted from cover towards it, rushing it to take the gunner by surprise. I ran along its side, pulled the pin and jammed it between the Wraith's panels. As I ran away it dawned on me that there were more Covenants there. I began to sprint only to be met by a crowd of Covenant soldiers walking behind it. As they began to open fire I quickly course corrected, making a very sharp left into and alleyway. Before I was running at solider speed, now I was running 'holy shit I'm going to die' speed. Suddenly this glowing blue ball flew overhead from nowhere and landed on a dumpster a few feet in front of me, sticking to its side. Then there was almighty flash of light and then darkness.

**Intergalactic Transport Carrier "Western Dreams"**

**Rented cabin #763**

**04:00am**

My eyes bolt open as I sat up in my bunk, breathing heavily in a panic. A bead on sweat made its way down my forehead as my eyes dotted around the tiny cabin that surrounded me. Another dream, another memory, another nightmare, I hated sleep. I was sat there; try to calm myself when suddenly there was a screeching from the ship speakers.

"Attention everyone, we've reach Edra and we'll be docking in Constantia in about an hour."

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**I now it was a pretty short chapter but I just want to introduce the characters first before I start going into some of the more meatier chapters**


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